Saturday, September 18 is Sports Day in Canada. Host your own Sports Day event with your team, club or sports-delivery organization in celebration of sport. When you participate, The Brain Injury Association of Canada reminds you to play safe and wear your protective gear and helmet, for sports and recreational activities that require a helmet PROPERLY. Find out more and register your event at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/sportsday/.
Over the last year, I have been impressed and pleased to see some of our survivors and caregivers participate in sport as part of their daily life and as a way to create awareness on BRAIN INJURIES and the variety of disabilities associated with brain injuries and how they deal with these challenges. From walking, to running to swimming to cycling to skiing to arm wrestling and so on. I would also at this time salute Brad Cownden on his accomplishment of cycling across CANADA SOLO from Victoria, BC, June 1st to St. John’s, NL, August 12, 2010 to raise awareness on acquired brain injuries and to raise funds. Visit http://www.brainstormride.org/ Donations are still being accepted.
Sign up and let Canada know what you, your colleagues or team are doing on Sports Day in Canada AND create an opportunity to inform Canada about traumatic / acquired brain injuries.
Good Luck!
Harry
Tralee Pearce
From Monday’s Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 12:01AM EDT Last updated on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 12:08AM EDT
Gone are the days when a coach could do an on-the-spot diagnosis of a teenager who had taken a ball or elbow to the head, and then send the player back to the field in a matter of minutes.
In a new report, aimed at members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, two researchers at Washington University’s medical school are advising pediatricians to discard many outdated procedures, and to take a more cautious approach to the treatment of concussion, which is a disturbance in brain function caused by direct or indirect force to the head.
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CBC News
The family of a Nova Scotia man with brain damage plans to file a complaint after he said he was humiliated by an Acadian Lines bus driver on Saturday.
David Wilcox, 52, was in a serious car accident 25 years ago that left him with brain damage and slurred speech.
After a conversation with the driver of a bus he boarded in Lower Sackville, N.S., on Saturday, Wilcox said he was ordered to the back.
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Family fights for Ricky’s care
By Hugh Adami, The Ottawa Citizen August 29, 2010 7:37 AM
Ricky King, 21, suffered severe head injuries in a car accident in 2006 and remains in a semi-comatose state. His parents, Roger and Nadira King, have for the last four years provided round-the-clock care for Ricky, putting their own careers as a massage therapist and an acupuncturist on hold. The stress and pressure are catching up. They can’t get sick, they say, because Ricky needs their care. They’ve asked a home-care agency to provide a nurse for a five-hour shift every other week so they can go out with family or friends, but they say they aren’t getting the response they need.
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A recent study has found that mandatory bike helmet laws are effective in reducing cycling injuries and fatalities and are no impediment to ridership numbers. Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, an assistant professor of community health services and internal medicine at the University of Manitoba, who co-authored the study that investigated this matter, said that an “all ages” law should be adopted by all provinces.
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It is with great sadness that I send this email regarding the sudden passing of our colleague within the Brain Injured community John Melanson earlier this week. John will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia
Room 13-009/010
13th Floor, Victoria Building, VG Site, QEII
Phone: (902) 473-7301
Fax: (902) 473-7302
Mail: PO Box 8804, Halifax, NS B3K 5M4
Website: www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bians1
St. John’s, N.L. – August 11, 2010
Cross-country bike odyssey to finish on Thursday in St. John’s, NL with emotional reunion between aunt and nephew – University of Victoria student cycled 7,500 km by himself to raise awareness and funds in support of brain injury survivors in honour of his aunt.
As he arrives on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at St. John’s historic waterfront centre, University of Victoria physics student Brad Cownden, 23, looks forward to a warm embrace from his aunt who inspired him to cycle across Canada. His aunt, Connie MacKenzie, traveled alone, mostly by bus, all the way from Victoria to greet Cownden upon his successful finish in St. John’s. MacKenzie suffered a near-fatal car accident 10 years ago that severely impacted her brain and her lifestyle. A former nurse, MacKenzie has not been able to work due to permanent damage to her critical-thinking centres. It was her battle to recover that inspired Cownden to embark on his cross-country ride.
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July 26, 2010
By CBC News
Police in southern Alberta have charged a Medicine Hat woman with manslaughter in connection with the death of a toddler at her private-home daycare.
Police in southern Alberta have charged a Medicine Hat woman with manslaughter in connection with the death of a toddler under her care at her private-home daycare.
An original charge of aggravated assault has been upgraded to manslaughter, Medicine Hat police said on Monday. The 24-year-old woman also faces a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life.
Mercedes Pepper, who was 19 months old, was flown last week to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, where she died from head injuries. Investigators believe she suffered the trauma at her day home, a provincially approved facility run out of a private residence.
The accused, whose name has not been released, is in police custody and is scheduled to appear at a bail hearing Tuesday morning.
Police had previously reported that Pepper was 18 months old and the accused 23 years old.
Alberta’s 2,800 day homes – usually run by parents seeking extra income – are allowed to care for up to six children. Day homes must pass 12 standards, while full-fledged daycares are licensed under more stringent criteria.
A trust fund has been set up in the name of Pepper’s mother, Sarah Hemstra. People may contribute at any TD Bank location. Money collected will go toward the girl’s burial costs, according to local reports.
We thought it would be helpful to our ABI research community and other valued stakeholders to share some updates on our activity in the ABI field.
From Ontario Neurotrama Foundation: Update on ABI Activity-July 2010 (pdf)
This will be of interest to members in the Brain Injury Community as it is to many more.
Tansi colleagues and friends
I would like to share some information regarding the impacts that the decision to discontinue the long form census will have on not only on the quality and comprehensiveness of First Nations, Indian, Inuit, and Metis health data, but also as you are all well aware on health and social policy decisions, which are informed by this data.
As most of you know, I write firstly as a Metis woman, family physician, and Indigenous health data specialist who has had the privilige of working with most of you. Today I also write as a member of the National Statistics Council, which is the senior advisory body to Statistics Canada. I have cc’d Ian McKinnon who is the chair of the National Statistics Council and also very concerned about this recent decision, which was imposed by cabinet on Statistics Canada with no consultation or discussion involving the National Statistics Council.
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